Niger incident report coming soon, Mattis says

These images provided by the U.S. Army show, from left, Staff Sgt. Bryan C. Black, 35, of Puyallup, Wash.; Staff Sgt. Jeremiah W. Johnson, 39, of Springboro, Ohio; Sgt. La David Johnson of Miami Gardens, Fla.; and Staff Sgt. Dustin M. Wright, 29, of Lyons, Ga. All four were killed in Niger, when a joint patrol of American and Niger forces was ambushed on Oct. 4, 2017, by militants believed linked to the Islamic State group. The Mauritanian Nouakchott News Agency reported Friday, Jan. 12, 2018 that Abu al-Walid al-Sahrawi with the self-professed IS affiliate claimed responsibility for the Oct. 4 ambush about 120 miles (200 kilometers) north of Niger's capital, Niamey. (U.S. Army via AP)

The report could come as soon as “a week or two,” Mattis said, though he cautioned that the timetable will be set by Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, the head of U.S. Africa Command.

The incident report will not be constrained just to the circumstances that led to the loss of the U.S. personnel, but rather will also look at the broader context of what the U.S. is doing in Niger.

“It is extensive, it is thousands of pages long,” Mattis said of the report, adding that “it is looking at all aspects, not just to this specific incident but to the broader circumstances surrounding that incident, so you get a holistic view.”

Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson and Sgt. La David Johnson of the 3rd Special Forces Group were killed in the Oct. 4 attack. The four men had been conducting an advise and assist mission with Nigerien soldiers when they were ambushed.

Aaron Mehta is the Senior Pentagon Correspondent and Associate Editor for Defense News, covering policy, strategy and acquisition at the highest levels of the Department of Defense and its international partners.